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thundara  ·  3733 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Don't edit the human germ line

I don't yet have a stance on the birth of kids with genetic differences. It's a complex topic that I agree will be a growing issue in future decades (unless new technology comes along, as with induced stem cells just after the stem cell ban was lift).

    I think it's going to happen. Someone is going to be willing to push the envelope and it will make them a billionaire or kill them.

A few of the early gene therapies hit the wrong targets and turned on oncogenes, given most of the patients cancer. Safety and translation to the clinic (and also intellectual property) are both top priorities in the relevant research right now, and there's plenty continuing research on making CRISPR / TALENs / ZFNs (the top 3 gene-editing enzymes) more specific and predictable.

There's some line where safety concerns outweighing the benefits transitions to the latter outweighing the former. But it's grey and I don't think the research is quite there. It's definitely not far off though.